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The UWI Honours the Legacy of Reginald Dumas, Patriot and Public Servant

For Release Upon Receipt - March 11, 2024

St. Augustine


St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago - March 11, 2024 ─ The University of the West Indies (The UWI) is deeply saddened by and joins the global community in mourning the loss of an unabashed patriot and public servant, John Reginald Dumas. In the opening of his published memoir entitled “The First Thirty Years: A Retrospection”, Reginald Dumas described how he had focused more on the social environments that he had inhabited than on the details of his personal life. This was truly how the former diplomat and Head of the Public Service lived his life, in service to his local, regional and international communities.

 In mourning his passing, The UWI celebrates and recognizes the great legacy that Dumas, described as a ‘nation-builder’, has left us with. He embodied the phrase “a true Trini,” born to Tobagonian parents, but growing up in Trinidad. The tales of his upbringing, from his memoirs, seem to be that which many can relate to, growing up in a single-parent household, living in culturally rich towns like Chaguanas and Tunapuna, and attending a top-tier secondary school. But even with this seemingly average Trini upbringing Dumas excelled, he won many scholarships, including the Island Scholarship which took him to Cambridge University.

 Education provided a solid footing for all that Dumas would go on to achieve. Even when doors closed for him, like the collapse of the Federal Government which was to take him to his next career opportunity in Geneva, his education and training, that he had gained at prestigious international institutions, opened other bigger opportunities for him.

 His diplomatic roles were extensive and he continued to gain accolades, and has been dubbed as the only person from Trinidad and Tobago to have been Ambassador to Washington (the country's top diplomatic post) and to the Organization of American States, and Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister and Head of the Public Service. During his time in service to his country, he worked alongside some of the other greats from Trinidad and Tobago, such as Sir Ellis Clarke, the country’s first President, and Dr Eric Williams, this country’s first Prime Minister.

 In 2011, Dumas was bestowed with an honorary doctorate from The UWI St Augustine, a Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa). In his address to students upon receiving the award, he perfectly encapsulated his lifelong mantra, namely to reflect, analyse and question. He stated, “... always place emphasis on values. It strikes me constantly that we have grown technologically at the expense of the values crucial for a civilized society – values such as integrity, hard work, community spirit, ethical behaviour and concern for the national over the sectional interest.”

 Even then, when the moment and the celebrations were about him, Reginald Dumas took the opportunity to speak about one of his passion projects: Haiti. Despite the challenges that the country continued to face, Dumas was unfazed and recommitted himself to the betterment of the Caribbean region, and proudly “It is not only T&T; I have represented the Caricom.”

 Four years later when he published his memoir, The First Thirty Years – A Retrospection, Emerita Professor Bridget Brereton noted in a UWI Today article (October 2015) that “Reginald Dumas has been described as a Mandarin: a member of a scholarly elite devoted to public service, perhaps an endangered species in these days. His contributions to nation-building in his own Trinidad & Tobago and to regional and international causes have been multifaceted, distinguished, and sustained over a lifetime.”

 On this loss to the Caribbean community and Trinidad and Tobago in particular, The UWI extends our heartfelt condolences to the Dumas family and all those who knew him.

 End

 

[L-R] Professor Eon Nigel Harris Former Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, the late Dr. Reginald Dumas, Retired Head of the Public Service, after receiving his Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) with Sir George Alleyne, Former Chancellor of The University of the West Indies and Professor Clement Sankat, Former Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal of The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus at St Augustine Campus' Graduation 2011.

 

 The late Dr Reginald Dumas, Retired Head of the Public Service, after receiving his Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa), at St Augustine Campus' Graduation 2011.

 

 

[L-R] Sir George Alleyne Former Chancellor of The University of the West Indies shakes hands with the late Dr Reginald Dumas Retired Head of the Public Service, at the Cocktail Reception of the St Augustine Campus' Graduation Ceremonies 2011, looking on is late. Dr Helen Bhagwansingh.

 About The University of the West Indies

 The UWI has been and continues to be a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development, residing at the center of all efforts to improve the well-being of people across the region for over 75 years.

From a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948, The UWI is today an internationally respected, global university with nearly 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and its Global Campus, and global centres in partnership with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

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